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Following Newcastle United's friendly with Middlesbrough, Alan Pardew revealed that he doesn't know if Siem De Jong and Cheik Tiote will be available for the season opener next weekend.

Pardew went on to praise both players and stated how important they were in his plans, so one must assume both are starters if fit. Tiote is not a fantasy option, unless you play in a league that rewards yellow cards, but De Jong is one to monitor. An attacking midfielder with set piece skills, De Jong is a definite prospect, but with Manchester City on tap for week 1, it would be hard to consider him for investment regardless of fitness.

Manager Antonio Conte has confirmed that attacking midfielder Oscar and defender John Terry will be unavailable for Sunday's clash with West Brom.

Oscar, who was named to the 18-man squad against Manchester City but did not feature last weekend, will miss Sunday's fixture with West Brom through illness. Conte also confirmed that John Terry will be unavailable as he's still recovering from a muscular problem. The omissions will likely see Nathaniel Chalobah and Ola Aina return their places on the bench, while Nemanja Matic is expected to be in contention for the starting XI.

Influential midfielder Nemanja Matic, who missed last weekend through injury, is fit to play for Chelsea against West Brom on Sunday.

Matic was a surprise omission from Antonio Conte's starting XI last weekend, due to a muscle injury, but is set to make his return this weekend. According to Chelsea's official Twitter feed, Conte has confirmed that Matic has trained since Tuesday and is fit. This means Matic will likely regain his place in the starting XI for Sunday's clash with West Brom. However, if Matic is unavailable then Cesc Fabregas would be favored to replace the Serbian international.

Jurgen Klopp announced that Joel Matip will not be joining up with the Cameroon national team for the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in January, much to the Liverpool manager's delight.

Cameroon would surely have Matip near the top of their center back depth chart but the Liverpool defender has opted out of the competition and will continue to be a steady presence in Jurgen Klopp's back line. While Matip, along with the rest of the Reds defense, hasn't been too productive in most fantasy formats (barring leagues where James Milner qualifies as a defender), those that own him will be happy to have one less player to worry about when AFCON rolls around. Matip is looking to shake off an ankle problem ahead of this weekend.

Sadio Mane has been training this week and should be over the knock he picked up last weekend and available for Liverpool when they play West Ham United on Sunday.

Mane limped off early last weekend against Bournemouth, many thinking the event was the catalyst that led to the thrilling come-from-behind win by the Cherries. The Senegalese attacking player has been in training this week and all signs point to him playing against the Hammers. An added benefit, the match is the final one of the gameweek, late Sunday, so it offers Mane that extra day or so to be match-ready.

Sean Dyche confirmed in his press conference leading up to Burnley's match against Bournemouth this weekend that Tom Heaton should be in contention.

Heaton has missed the past two league games with a calf injury but it sounds as though, barring a setback, the first choice keeper will be back between the sticks versus the Cherries on Saturday. Veteran Paul Robinson has been starting in Heaton's place and, while showing himself well against the Citizens two weekends ago, he looked a bit shaky against Stoke this past weekend, so Heaton's return would be a welcome one both for Burnley and for many fantasy managers.

Bob Bradley announced that he has a fully fit squad as Swansea City prepare to take on Sunderland this weekend with the exception of Federico Fernandez and Ki Sung-yueng who are both out with a broken toe.

There are not many positive vibes coming out of South Wales these days as the Swans are coming off another lopsided loss where they were the vastly inferior opponent. Bradley has just one win at the helm, and that was a wacky 5-4 result against Crystal Palace. Ki has missed time through injury already and has only made five starts in Swansea's fourteen league games thus far while Fernandez has started just three of Bradley's seven games in charge. With Mike van der Hoorn and Jordi Amat the center back partnership that allowed Spurs to score five goals last week, there's a good chance one will drop for Alfie Mawson, but there is little to be excited about for fantasy purposes and perhaps even less excitement for Swansea supporters at present time.

Junior Stanislas will be back to the Bournemouth first team in a matter of weeks rather than months.

The news came through in Eddie Howe's press conference this morning. It's a blow to the Cherries, as Stanislas was performing well before his ankle issues. He went off injured just before the hour mark in the Liverpool match last weekend and was replaced by the game-winner, Ryan Fraser. He will now be hoping to be rewarded for his Man of The Match performance with a start at Burnley on Saturday.

Bournemouth's versatile defender Nathan Ake is set to start his fourth Premier League game in a row against Burnley on Saturday.

Ake, who scored the last gasp winner against Liverpool in GW14, has given some fine displays for the Cherries in his recent spell filling in for both Adam Smith who was suspended and Charlie Daniels who was injured. However, Daniels has now recovered and will return to his centre-back berth on Saturday. It is expected that Howe will not drop Ake, and instead will make way at left back for the Chelsea loanee by relegating Adam Smith to the bench.

Mauricio Pochettino has revealed in his press conference ahead of Tottenham's showdown with Manchester United this weekend that left back Ben Davies is available again for selection.

With Toby Alderweireld returning midweek in a substitute appearance for Tottenham's final Champions League match, a healthy Davies now means Spurs are at full strength at the back. Davies should return as cover for Danny Rose but the absence of Alderweireld may give Spurs reason to think about adding a center back in the January window. It will be another week or two before Vincent Janssen and Erik Lamela come back into contention for the attack but a full strength defense will be good news for fantasy managers invested in Tottenham's back line.

Southampton failed to beat Hapoel Beer Sheva and knocked themselves out of the Europa League in doing so tonight at St Mary's.

Southampton needed a win or 0-0 draw to go through to the knock-out rounds of the competition and played for the latter option for the vast majority of the game. They successfully limited the Israeli outfit beyond the 75th minute without a shot on target before Maor Buzaglo scored for the visitors from the edge of the box. Earlier in the match, Southampton's chances were too limited by their compact defensive style with their only efforts of note being a Redmond curler which was batted away and a wide Van Dijk header. As they chanced the game in the dying moments, seeking two goals desperately, the Dutch centre-back did score with a prod in stoppage time but it was too little, too late. To compound Claude Puel's bothers, Charlie Austin was also forced off in the first half with a shoulder injury.

Southampton talisman Charlie Austin was forced off in the first half of their 1-1 Europa League draw with Hapoel Be'er Sheva with a shoulder injury.

Doubts are now being cast over the Englishman's ability to play in this weekend's Premier League encounter with Middlesbrough. Austin has been Southampton's main provider of goals this term, supplying nine. That's three times more than their second best goalscorer, Nathan Redmond, on three. Their over-reliance on Austin has been to their detriment already this season and now that issue is going to raise itself again. More should be known about about Austin's issue by press conference time on Friday but it can probably be assumed he is out of GW15 and maybe beyond.